Introduction

Ever see a deal that you thought was too good to be true? You grab one for yourself but then thought maybe your friends or family might need one too. Have you ever thought about buying and selling it for a profit? Buying and selling online is not a new concept, millions of people do it daily on eBay, Amazon, Etsy… anyone can do it including you!

Anything can be ‘flipped’ for profit because almost everything goes on sale and can be bought low and resold high.

What separates the profits and losses when it comes to buying and selling online often depends on the right tools and tricks of the trade. Just like a handyman is nothing without his/her tools, a flipping is nothing without the right tools as well.

Let’s get started!

Step 1: Get the tools ready

Amazon App – Anytime you come across something you think might be worth selling, pull out the Amazon app and see how much it’s going for. The app allows you to scan barcodes directly from the box.

Amazon Mobile Site – Works almost as good as the app.

eBay App – eBay isn’t as easy as Amazon’s but if you ever come across anything not sold on Amazon, be sure to check on eBay. eBay is also great for reselling of Amazon items.

Profit Bandit App – This paid app ($9.99) is an easy way for you to check for profit margins, stock, price history and rank of items on Amazon. The limitation is you must have an Amazon sellers account for it to be used and plus it is not free.

BookScouter – This awesome site lets you see what new and used books are worth in seconds. The site is lightweight and can be pulled up on your phone easily.

Step 2: Get the coupons and cash back rebates ready

EBates – The best place to earn cash back on all of your online purchases. Cash back ranges from 1-25%.

MyPoints – Earn points for all of your purchases and redeem for cash. MyPoints offers unique discounts that no one else has, for example, $15 dollars off Amazon Prime.

Paribus – The only service out there that scans your email and Amazon account for purchases and instantly refunds price drops that happen within 90 days. They take a 25% cut of what you get refunded (which is still amazing since they do all the work for you) but on sign-up you get 5% back. And everyone you invite drops that by another 5%.

Ibotta – This app allows you to not only get great coupons on the fly but also allows you to get cash back from major retail stores for in-store purchases. Simple as unlocking a savings and scanning your receipt and UPC labels. Special sign up bonus of $10 dollars cash just for unlocking a single item!

Step 3: Sign up for store credit cards for instant discounts

Amazon Rewards or Store Card – Instant 5% savings on all Amazon purchases made on the card. Special financing options too.

Target RedCard – Instant 5% savings on all purchases made on the card. This is a no brainer when making any purchases with Target in-store or online. You also gain a month longer return period and free shipping.

Walmart Card – 3% savings on all Walmart purchases in-store or online.

Almost every single big box store has a credit card offer for instant discounts. Check online or in-store for more details.

Step 4: Scout these places for low, clearance or mistakes on prices

Ok with steps 1, 2 and 3 out of the way, you are ready to start buying! Buy and selling for profit really comes down to buying items for low prices and selling it for higher. With the right tools, the right coupons/cash back rebates and the right credit cards with discounts, you are making sure you are buying at the lowest price. Remember those savings are stacked on top of discounts, clearance and price mistakes.

Below is just a small sample of where to look for items to sell. Be creative and and get out there!

Garage sales – Don’t forget about those garage sales. Look for items still sealed and ready to be listed.

Thrift stores – Look for clothes with tags on them so that they can be resold as new.

Flea markets – You might get lucky if a business owner is unloading all of his/her products at a flea market after closing down.

Wholesale companies – Wholesale companies like DollarDays allow you to buy in bulk and resell individually.

Going out of business sales – You see these all the time as more and more retailers close down. Take advantage of the huge savings especially towards the end.

Outlet Malls – Tons of stores for you to grab clothes and other discounted items for fraction of their normal cost.

Craigslist – You can make a killing just from the stuff being given away in the free section.

Dollar Tree – Dollar Tree’s online site allows you to buy dollar items in bulk. You can easily resell the individual items.

Toys R Us – Non-seasonal or unpopular toys is often sold up to 75% off.

Costco / Sam’s Club – Member-only items are sometimes being sold below market value.

Target – Go to the back of the aisles and check out all the clearance items at the end racks. Sometimes up to 70% off on great flippable things.

Walmart – Check out the clearance aisles but mostly browse Walmart’s online store. Many items have prices slashed often and there are exclusive online items only not sold in stores.

Walgreens / CVS – Clearance items and season items are great places to look for items to flip.

JCPenny / Kohls / Macys – Clothes are often slashed up to 90% off and coupons can be stacked on top.

eBay / Amazon – Sometimes there are deals on one and not the other. Buy on eBay and sell on Amazon or vice versa.

Groupon – Check out Groupon Goods. Sometimes there are items sold massively discounted off msrp. Great flips are sold very quickly.

Woot! – Daily deals site that is now owned by Amazon. Great items that can be flipped sometimes.

Amazon Goldbox Deals – Exclusive deals for members and sometimes items offered are gone within secs. Claim your items fast.

Step 5: Don’t miss Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals

There are a ton of items being sold every Black Friday and Cyber Monday that can be bought and sold for profit. Sites like Slickdeals have Black Friday Ads and Cyber Monday Ads weeks and sometimes months before the dates. Check out what you want to buy and set a schedule. People often only focus on the doorbuster items which tend to run out very quickly. The trick is to focus on the things most people miss which can still net you a healthy profit. I recommend doing all of your shopping online to maximize your time and it allows to be buying from multiple stores at once.

Step 6: Sell for Profit

eBay – eBay can be used to sell anything. But it doesn’t always get

you the highest profit since competition is high but on the flip side,

there is no other marketplace that has as much buying power

either.

Amazon – Amazon is great when you are selling new things that

you’ve purchased elsewhere. If you can search and find the

product on Amazon then that means you can sell it too.

Swap – Great specialty shop for selling new and used

clothes. They send you a box and you ship them the clothes and

they take pictures and display it for you. All you have to do is set

the price and away you go.

Bookscouter – The best site for selling books. They show you

prices from book buyers from over 10 different sites who are all

competing for your business.

Garage Sales – Garage sales are always great for selling things. But

due to the limited geographic area, don’t try to sell rare items that

could fetch a much higher price on eBay.

Craigslist – If you want to sell locally for cash, Craigslist is the place

to do it. The reach is enormous and everything is local. Just be

careful extreme hagglers that eat away your profits.

Buy and Sell Anything For A Profit

Congrats, you now have the right tools and knowledge on how to buy and sell anything online for a profit! Word of caution, start small when first getting started and don’t end up buying a lot of stuff for yourself!

Amazon vs eBay vs Etsy, Which is best?

A question I get hit all the time is “where should I sell my

items?” Although you can technically sell your items with any online

marketplace or the dozens of mobile apps out there, there are

advantages to each one. These advantages help you to sell your items

faster or for more profit. This part is concentrating on the three big

online marketplaces that should still be where most of your sales

generate. Amazon, eBay and Etsy have been operating for years and

each one generates billions of sales each year. Amazon vs eBay vs Etsy,

which is best?

Pros:

Huge customer base – Amazon is the largest online retailers with 350+ million active members.

Credibility and trust – New customers are more comfortable purchasing from Amazon than purchasing from a website they’re unfamiliar with. Amazon has one of the highest satisfactory ratings for new and repeat buyers.

Excellent back-end infrastructure – Amazon has a great back-end infrastructure to support selling. Everything from inventory tracking to tax collection to credit card processing is possible with Amazon’s platform. It’s all there for you. No need to figure out how to do all the setup yourself.

Amazon FBA – FBA service lets sellers ship their inventory to Amazon’s warehouse and then let Amazon handle sales of the product, the fulfillment, returns and customer service issues.

Cons:

Fees – Amazon has two seller plans. One for Individuals who sell less than 40 items a month and one for professionals who sell more than 40 items a month. Individuals have to pay a dollar fee per item sold + category fees. Professionals have to pay a monthly subscription fee of $40 dollars + categories fees. Depending on how much you sell, fees from Amazon came come out to be more than eBay and Etsy. Amazon FBA also changes you a listing fee plus typically a few dollars in fulfillment fees depending on the item.

You’re a commodity – On Amazon you’re mostly a commodity and subject to someone undercutting your price. You’re also competing with Amazon directly if they decide to sell your product.

No branding – There aren’t many branding options on Amazon. The only thing you have control of is your products’ photos and text description. Everything else is Amazon branded.

Lack of customer loyalty – Customers are loyal to Amazon and not your brand. So you lose the repeat business or the ability to up sell/cross sell unless you sell a product no one else does.

What you should sell:

Used Electronics – Amazon’s Trade- In program makes it extremely easy for anyone to sell used electronics items such as cell phones, video games, tablets, and laptops. They offer you a set price and provide a shipping label for you to ship with. No worries about the price you are getting nor dealing with buyers.

New Items – If you have the ability to source a new product continuously or have a ton of an existing product, have an Amazon Seller’s Account is a great way to sell your item. All the pros listed above lets you sell your items quickly and efficiently. This includes Dollar store items.

Pros:

Huge global customer base – On eBay has over 200+ million active buyers located around the world. You can instantly become a global seller by using eBay’s global shipping program. The program allows you to ship to a hub within the US and the international shipping gets taken care of for you.

Ease of use – EBay’s selling, listing and inventory tools make it easy to sell your products on the site quickly. eBay has made many features free these days to help you sell your items. One example is by making multiple pictures available free.

Ability to sell anything – This is the biggest pro to eBay. It doesn’t matter if you have a used iPhone, a restored 1969 Camaro SS or a first edition of X-Men comic book, you can sell it on eBay. eBay’s auction format allows you to list practically anything and there are millions of people looking.

Tight integration with Paypal – Paypal is the preferred electronic payment solution for thousands of online sites. eBay has a close relationship with Paypal since eBay was the parent company of Paypal until 2015 when they sold them off. The main benefit is trust with customers and Paypal’s seller protection program.

Cons:

Fees can add up – Fees on eBay can vary depending on what you sell and how you sell it. Sellers typically pay 10 percent of the sale price, with a maximum fee of $250 – though advanced listing upgrade fees add more to the cost. Paypal also incurs a 3 percent fee. This makes it difficult to profit from items with little margin.

Favors buyers over sellers – Over the years, eBay has made it increasingly difficult for sellers by tipping the scales of empowerment heavily in favor of buyers. This includes eBay’s new 180-day return policy for buyers and seller’s inability to leave negative feedback for buyers.

What you should sell:

Rare Things – If you happen to have a one-of-a-kind item or vintage items that are rare nowadays, you definitely want to list up on eBay. Although Craigslist, antique shops or local auctions might net you money faster…eBay allows you to showcase your product to the world. Vintage comic books, books, stamps, coins, precious metals, antiques, paintings, cars all fetch high prices on eBay.

Anything w/ High Margins – Because of the high fees, you want to sell only things with high margins. Used items you bought from dollar stores, thrift stores or garage sales would be good examples of things you can sell on eBay due to their high margins as long as shipping costs don’t ruin it.

Things you can’t sell anywhere else – When in doubt or when you simply can’t sell something, list it up on eBay. Boxes, random remotes, power cords, old software can all be sold.

Pros:

Large targeted customer base – Etsy has over 60 million active members which are specifically looking for hand-crafted, artisanal or vintage items.

Easy to set up shop – Etsy makes it easy to list and advertise. A seller can quickly set up a storefront, payment options and generate shipping labels without any HTML or CSS stylesheet knowledge.

Powerful, supportive community – Etsy has forums and teams that create a sense of family amongst sellers. This brings in multiple sales as well, as Etsy sellers love to support one another.

Fees – Overall Etsy has a lot less fee structure than Amazon or eBay. Etsy charges a $.20 cent listing fee and a has a flat 3.5% selling fee.

Cons:

Little or no ability to customize or personalize your shop – There is a limit to how much personalization a customer can do through an Etsy listing. All seller pages look the same, making it a little more difficult to distinguish yourself.

Lots of targeted competition – Since Etsy’s marketplace consists of very specific categories, there’s a lot of competition within them. Furthermore, there are a lot of copycats on Etsy. There are shops that have very similar items down to the listing format, description and policy page.

What you should sell:

Anything hand-crafted – If your the type that likes creating your own things such as jewelry, clothes, home decor, party items, etc… you definitely want to sell on Etsy. Buyers on Etsy specifically browse for hand-crafted item which is rarely seen on Amazon or eBay.

Vintage Clothes – There is a huge following on Etsy for vintage clothes or new clothes that look vintage. Even though eBay is great for vintage things. clothes is definitely something you should consider on Etsy.

Craft Supplies – Due to the high number of sellers selling hand-crafted items, it’s not a surprise that craft supplies are a huge hit as well. Anything from toilet paper rolls to colored paper to signs is sold on Etsy.

Amazon, eBay, Etsy, Which is best?

There is no right or wrong answer to which marketplace is best. They all have their own pros and cons and it’s up to you on how to maximize their pros for your gains. Although Craigslist is always an option and so is the dozens of location based selling apps, they are for local selling. Visibility is limited to how many people are around you. Local selling is great for very large or heavy items that you don’t want to ship or for fast sales. But if you don’t mind spending some time taking some pics, putting up a listing and shipping…your not going to find any better ways of maximizing profits than Amazon, eBay or Etsy.